Game: "Electroplankton"
System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Simulation
Published by: Nintendo

Reviewer: -RoG-
Posted: 8/27/2008

Review: Now here's a criminally overlooked title for the Nintendo DS if there ever was one. Granted, it was only available in stores for a brief period of time right around when the DS first came out, so it's understandable that a lot of people may have missed out on it. Electroplankton may not be the easiest title to track down these days, what with copies often fetching over $50 on eBay, but it's well worth looking into if you ask me.

The first thing you need to know about Electroplankton is that it's not really a game per se... it's more like an interactive musical piece of art. If you're looking for something with high scores and varying levels of difficulty, I suggest looking elsewhere. What Electroplankton does offer, however, is an extremely unique experience on the DS. I'm sure it sounds silly, but if you could package up the act of meditation and put it on the Nintendo DS, I think Electroplankton would be as close to the end result as you'd ever get.

It features 10 different microscopic marine animals which all perform unique musical acts based on your actions. Some respond to touch, some respond to sound, but the end result is always entertaining. Out of all the creatures, I have to say I like the "Luminaria" the best. In this mode, you touch the arrows on the screen to determine where each of the four creatures (which move at different speeds) go on the screen while play various bell sounds. I also enjoy the "Rec-Rec" 4-track simulation which records your voice and plays back some hilariously bizarre tunes.

In all honesty, I have only two complaints about Electroplankton. 1) I'd love to see more creatures in it, because the ten you're provided enough just left me wanting more. 2) The inability to save your musical tracks is what really prevents it from getting a much higher score. Japanese interactive media artist, Toshio Iwai, really came up with a brilliant piece of work when he created Electroplankton. I can only hope that we'll see a sequel from him in the future that takes the project even further, because it definitely has a ton of potential.

Overall rating:
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)